


Shook

by sunbean72



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark - Freeform, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, am i right?, captain america is quite the fella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-30 16:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12112920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbean72/pseuds/sunbean72
Summary: Set after The Avengers but before Iron Man 3 (so the team is still together and Tony Stark still has the arc reactor in his chest, circa 2012) Tony finds himself trapped in a collapsed building.





	Shook

"Can you see him?"

"Unless you think I've developed the sudden ability to see through _rock_ , then you already know the answer to that question."

"Well exxxxcccuuusee me," came the irritated, slightly breathless reply. "If you would have let _me_ go first, then I wouldn't have to look at your behind and ask if you can see anything!"

"Shh! I can't listen if you're yapping!"

"Sorry," came the petulant reply. "And if you ever refer to my dulcet tones as 'yapping' again I'll--"

"Shh! I thought I heard something." Silence fell between them; they even held their breath, waiting for the smallest indication that someone was still alive.

"I'm over here." A third voice joined the other two, faint in the dark and dusty air, muffled. The other two moved toward the sound as quickly as they could, the sound of dragging themselves through the rubble drowning out anything else.

"Hello?? Hello, we're here, say something!" 

"Um... How's the weather?"

"That must be him," the second voice said, relieved. He pulled out his radio then frowned at it. "There's some kind of interference in this room. One of us will have to go for backup. Hello, are you still there?"

"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere. It's... it's really good to hear your voices. Tell me your names, please."

"I'm Maggie!" An enthused voice called.

"I'm Gary."

"Another Gary," came the faint reply.

"You have someone with you?"

"No, no. Just me down here."

"Sir, are you Tony Stark?"

"Yes, please just tell me, can you tell me... how many children-- I mean, are there many that--" the faint voice cut off, just a small echo bouncing off the rubble.

"There were thirteen injured and no deaths," Maggie said quickly. "The Avengers managed to save them all."

"That's good... that's really really good. All the Avengers, they're okay?"

"Yes, excepting yourself."

"Can you tell me how long it's been?"

"Just shy of sixteen hours, sir." There was a pause as he processed the information.

"Are there others still missing?" He asked finally.

A pause. "Three nurses and a housekeeper are unaccounted for," Gary said quietly.

"I think I've got one of your nurses here. He didn't make it." It was silent, and the heaviness of the collapsed building seemed to settle on them.

"Mr. Stark, just keep talking if you can. I'm still not sure where you are."

"Hang on... I think I'm to your left. Can you see a light?"

A pause. "No. Nothing."

"I'm... I'm this way." The voice sounded exhausted, fainter. 

"Try to speak up!"

"It's... there's a beam across my chest. It makes it... it makes it hard to get a deep breath."

"It's rainy, Mr. Stark," Maggie called.

"What?"

"You asked about the weather. It turned rainy."

Gary thought he might have caught the sound of a low chuckle. "The weatherman said it might, I guess. Good to know." He didn't have enough space to turn far but he looked over his shoulder to give Maggie a look that told her she was doing a good job. Maggie pulled down her dust mask to stick out her tongue.

"Mr. Stark are you injured?" She called as they worked at moving debris away from the direction they could hear his voice.

"Me, no, just a building sitting on my chest."

"I'm rolling my eyes," she informed him. "How _badly_ are you injured, smart guy?"

There was a long silence. "I'm not exactly sure. There's probably some broken bones and some blood but I can't move more than a few inches. My legs are buried, I can't move them at all."

"Okay. It's okay Mr. Stark, don't move whatever you do, we're going to get you out of there." A faint response, too quiet to understand. "Mr. Stark?"

"I said 'Glad to hear it,'" he said more loudly. "Not to alarm either of you fine people, but it is somewhat hard to breathe in here. Are you first responders? Search and Rescue?"

"Yeah, we're both Search and Rescue. Maggie is also a Life Flight nurse and I'm EMS. I understand it's hard to breathe, can you find something to bang on? Keep making noise so I can find where you are."

Gary pushed against a large beam and it caused a small avalanche of dust and rocks. Maggie crawled up beside him and together they slowly cleared a path. Gary looked down at the smaller woman, doing a quick visual that her equipment was in good order.

"I know what you're doing."

"So?"

"So I trained _you_ you idiot. I've been doing this for five years longer than you."

"So?"

"So stay in your own lane, big guy," she scoffed, taking advantage of the widened space to crawl past him. At the same moment, they could faintly hear banging coming from several yards away. "That's great! We're coming toward you. Just keep making noise every once in a while."

Carefully they dug their way toward him. There were only four feet of space between the ground and the ceiling at the tallest places, and massive amounts of rubble and debris filled the space. They had to be careful as they moved things to not cause a bigger collapse. It was slow, hot, and dirty work, difficult to get leverage in the confined space but after nearly twenty minutes, they came to a partially collapsed wall where they could hear Tony Stark on the other side. 

"Mr. Stark, we're here. I'm trying to see if it's safe to get through this wall."

"It's... it's safe." Maggie heard him say faintly. "If you stay away from that metal beam you should see sticking out about ten feet away. Don't do anything to disturb that. There's a wall in here that's doing most of the load bearing, just be careful."

"Mr. Stark we have to be sure--" 

"Idiot. Don't you know this guy's some kind of engineering genius? He'd know better than either of us. He built his house on a cliff just because they said it was impossible." Maggie lowered her voice. "You know they said this whole thing can go and to be as quick as possible. Let's just get eyes on him, okay?"

Gary made a face, but agreed. "Mr. Stark can you bang on the wall? I don't want to send any debris your way."

"Please... just call me Tony, I might still die and I don't want to die being called Mr. Stark."

Gary laughed. "All right, Tony, if you can reach the wall, just pound on it so I know where you are." Tony obliged as best he could, though the wall was behind him, almost out of reach, and made of concrete. It didn't conduct the sound that well, but well enough. "Okay, sit tight."

"I'll do my best," Tony replied drily. Gary adjusted his goggles to make sure they were fitting tightly and started to chip away at the wall to break a way through. Gary turned back to Maggie, who was continuing to clear as much space as she could to get more equipment through if needed, to give them some space to get out quickly as well, he knew. 

"Try the radio again," he suggested.

"It won't work," Tony called. "It's... all the copper. The roof was copper. RF shielding."

"Maybe one of us should go get some help. Bring some equipment down here to help dig him out."

"Yeah, you go."

"Idiot! If I stay, I'm going to be able to fit through a smaller opening, which will be faster and more stable. I'll go back for the bag with medical supplies and oxygen, you work on making me an entrance. And don't bother arguing with me."

"I wouldn't dream," Gary muttered, as she crawled away, giving a vicious jerk to the crowbar to pry loose a section he'd loosened with a hammer. He worked a few more minutes before lifting his hard hat to wipe his forehead. The dark stillness of the building was kind of creepy, especially after the noise and bustle he'd been exposed to before entering the building. "You with me, Stark?" He called, breathing heavily. The dust masks were hard to breathe through.

"Yeah."

"I'm almost to you, Tony. Give me a few more minutes."

"Take your time," Tony said faintly. Gary broke through the other side of the wall a few minutes later, just as Maggie got back with the bag. It had been too bulky to drag behind them through the building; she'd left inside where they'd dug down, trying for access to the lowest level they suspected Tony was. After moving several feet of debris, they'd finally accessed the bottom floor and had been moving through when Tony heard them.

A light shone through the small opening. "You have a flashlight in there?"

"No, duh. It's the arc reactor," Gary corrected her.

"Oh right. Cool. I'm glad you weren't in the dark this whole time that would have sucked." She paused. "Sucked worse."

"Good point." She heard him breathe a sigh. "Me and dark, enclosed places made of rock don't agree so well."

"Are we in a good spot? Nothing's going to hit you if I make this bigger?" She said, trying to look through the hole. He was not quite within her line of sight.

"No, you're okay."

"Good. Don't want to hurt that pretty face, I would be lynched. 'Life Flight Nurse Killed for Marring Perfection,'" she joked.

"That's the first time I've been accused of having a pretty face," Tony replied drily. 

"Turn your head just the same, Mr. St-- Tony. I'm going to use this drill to try and enlarge the hole a little faster." Gary gestured that he was going topside to get help and equipment, and so they others would know they had found Tony so they could recall teams from other parts of the building if they could.

She worked steadily for another twenty minutes before the hole was big enough for her to look in and see the trapped billionaire. He was turned away but when the drilling stopped he looked over at her, his face lit by her headlamp and the light of the arc reactor, his eyes screwed up against the sudden brightness.

"Hi."

"Hello Maggie. Good to see you."

"You too sir." She looked around. He was definitely in a bad spot, where most of the debris was. He was laying on his back with a large metal beam angled across his chest anchored on the right side of his body by debris and wedged tightly in the collapsed wall. His legs were covered by rubble and debris as well. There was very little space to his left, no room to move him that way; it was all debris and a collapsed wall. She was trying to figure out why he was in the worst possible spot, the least protected angle, when she saw the body of the nurse he'd mentioned, partially buried a few feet beyond him. Tony followed her gaze.

"He was right behind me when the ceiling started to cave. I tried to pull him out. Got us both trapped, so there was no way for me to help him. Pretty stupid of me."

"That sounds hella traumatic. You did everything you could."

"Wasn't enough though."

"Sometimes it's not," she responded quietly and saw him close his eyes. "We can only do what we can, Tony."

"Yeah." Maggie started working to enlarge the hole again, able to go a bit faster now that they'd made the hole. Every once in a while, a rumble to could be heard as parts of the building settled and collapsed under its own weight, unnerving her every time it happened. She worked steadily, though, trying not to worry that it was taking Gary much longer to get back with help than she'd thought it would.

She heard him crawl back beside her after what seemed like a long time. He was alone and had only another duffel bag with equipment and supplies and was dragging a plastic gurney. "Maggie, bad news. They're saying it's too unstable to send down equipment. Boss-man says unless he's loose already, we should pull out because there's a good chance the whole thing can collapse," he said in a low voice near her ear so Tony couldn't hear them. "A load-bearing wall is already shaky and it could cause a chain reaction to collapse what's left. He wants us to come up."

"Well, I'll be damned if I'm leaving freaking Iron Man down here to die after all he's done for us. Screw that," she said matter-of-factly. 

"I know, Maggie, I know. I had to tell you though. He couldn't let anyone down to help us. He only let me back in so I could warn you, bring you out. He said if we could give Tony some water and stuff we could try again once the engineers give the okay."

"Nope. I'm staying." She paused. "Gary you got a new wife at home. You shouldn't stay. You'd break her heart if anything happened to you."

"We both knew the possibilities, Maggie. You should know me better than that." 

She shrugged. "Then let's stop wasting time talking about it." She turned to the hole and spoke to Tony. "Turn your head," Maggie instructed as she turned the drill back on. She felt a jitter of nerves for the first time; usually she stayed pretty cool under the pressure, but she felt a push of anxiety and was working feverishly now. Gary started chipping away beside the hole, trying to weaken it so it would break up faster.

Finally there was enough space for Maggie to push through. She stripped off her bulky jacket, pushing it through before her, and struggled through the small opening. She gestured for Gary to hand her the bag, which he did, and Maggie moved toward the injured man. She would work on getting Tony stabilized while Gary worked on getting the hole big enough for them to get him through and clear a path. 

"Can you help me out of here?" Tony asked her, his hands braced against the beam.

"Not yet, Tony. You could get a reperfusion injury, or crushing syndrome. All that cellular damage from being crushed would be released into your body, causing massive damage, hyperkalemia, and you'd die of a heart arrhythmia. I've got to get an IV and fluid into you first." She turned an LED lantern on, lighting up the small space. 

Tony let his head fall back, his brow furrowed. "Damn it."

"Yup." She slid an oxygen mask over his face and her jacket under his head, assessing him quickly. He didn't seem to be in too much distress, and she debated with herself. Giving him fluid could save his life from the crushing injuries but also could cause him to bleed out if he were still actively bleeding. There was no way to tell. She moved rubble out of the way so she could get closer to him. 

"I know it's stupid, I can see... please can you check on Chris? The nurse, his name was Chris." 

"I'm not sure I can get to him--"

"Just crawl over me, _please._ Just in case he's somehow still alive." Tony couldn't clearly see the man's body from his angle. It must have been very frustrating and upsetting that he could't see if the man was dead or unconscious. Maggie hesitated then took off her helmet and headlamp. There would be barely enough clearance even without them. As carefully as she could she moved across the injured man, her feet over his legs as she stretched for Chris' hand. It was cold and stiff. She could see he'd suffered a massive head trauma. She swallowed. At least he didn't suffer. She worked her way back over, doing her best not to put any weight on Tony.

"I'm truly sorry." She knelt beside him, putting her equipment back on.

She felt his hand grab her wrist, and he painfully moved his other hand to remove the oxygen so he could speak. "Listen kid, you've got to get out of here. Come on. Get Gary and get out, I'm begging you here. I'll give you a million dollars to walk away, five million, name your number. Give me a paper and I'll sign it. You show it to Pepper Potts and I give you my word she'll honor it. What're your lives worth to you? Come on."

Maggie pulled her wrist free and took his hand, squeezing it. She didn't think he'd been able to hear her and Gary's whispered conversation, but he was supposed to be some kind of genius and it wasn't that hard to see the difficulty they were in. "No way in hell, sir," she said quietly, holding his gaze, remembering the sacrifice he'd been willing to make for all of New York. All the world. She couldn't just leave him here. He closed his eyes, and she saw pain cross his face. She squeezed his hand one more time before turning it over to look for a vein. "Oooh! You have good veins. Nice." 

"Uhh... you're welcome? And... that's kind of weird?" Gary was drilling again, cutting off conversation and Tony turned his head away, his eyes closed tightly against the light on her headlamp. He probably had a headache, maybe a concussion, there were some superficial lacerations on his scalp. She had the IV going within a few minutes and after getting his vital signs she started pumping him full of fluid. 

"Would you like something for pain?" She asked, leaning close to him to be heard over the ruckus Gary was making. 

"Go away," he responded without opening his eyes.

"Come on, tough guy. You hurting?"

"As a matter of fact I am. But I don't want to be sleepy."

"All right. I'm not your mother." She pulled a water bottle out of her bag. "How 'bout this, then?" He opened one eye to see what she was talking about and nodded quickly.

"I thought you weren't my mother," he said and she held his head to help him take a drink then held the water bottle as he clumsily spilled it.

"I'm not. I just don't get to cradle handsome billionaires unless I take what advantages I can, you know?" He snorted. She cackled at her own joke. "Gosh I'm hilarious. I hope you live to tell everyone."

"Me too." After he'd had a long drink, she poured some of the water onto a piece of gauze to wipe some of the dust off his face for him. It was a small thing, maybe, but Tony appreciated the gesture of making him that much more comfortable.

"I'm going to move some of these smaller chunks of concrete off you. Try not to move. Do you know where you're bleeding from?"

"Possibly my right leg. I felt something hit me when I was trying to get to Chris."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to prioritize how to intervene. 

"What I wouldn't give for one of your suits right now," she said wrily. She slid around the beam and started moving a few of the pieces of concrete and rubble.

"Me too."

"Don't you always have one?" She asked curiously, throwing some of the smaller pieces but having to carry a few of the larger chunks.

"I had... I had one. No weapons, for... visiting kids. Kind of ironic we were breaking ground on a new pediatric wing, now we'll have to rebuild... the entire hospital. The suit... I had to step out of it, it was holding up a part of the building while we were getting the kids out, I had to help... I was carrying a... a kid... and I went back--" Tony held his breath as pain filled his body when she moved some of the rubble off.

"Sorry," she said softly. "I guess we were just lucky that they were able to evacuate so many people after the first explosion. Not many people around when the other two went off, collapsing the building. Your team was amazing, saving all those people." His eyes were closed tightly, his body rigid. "Let me give you something for pain--"

"N-no. Just... give me--" He reached up and ripped the oxygen off his face and started futilely pushing on the beam across his chest. Maggie scrambled toward him on the uneven ground, slipping on the loose rubble, grabbing at his hands as he was injuring himself on the beam. "Get me out," he said, his breathing too fast, pushing her hands away.

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, _Tony!_ Easy, easy!" 

"I can't breathe!"

"Tony, you _can breathe,_ just try and calm down." 

"I can't, I can't breathe!" She listened to his chest to make sure his lungs hadn't collapsed. He was moving air in his lungs, so she hurriedly gave him a sedative through his IV. 

His frantic movements slowed and he didn't fight her as she put the oxygen mask back on. "That's it. Slow deep breaths, Tony." He closed his eyes tightly, nodding slightly.

"Sorry," he said, his voice barely audible. Gary had stopped drilling when he heard yelling and was watching them a moment to make sure they were all right.

"Don't apologize," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I mean... it's okay. It really is. I'm sorry I had to sedate you, I know you didn't want it."

"It's... not as bad as I thought. Like a good stiff drink, really, though I'm supposedly off the hard stuff." He took a deep breath. "It was just when you were moving those rocks... It reminded me of when I was a prisoner in Afghanistan for a minute. A sound it made. I'm really sorry." He shuddered, knowing how weak, how stupid he must seem to her, and he was supposed to be some kind of superhero, so much for that. It wasn't like... It wasn't like people didn't know about his weaknesses though.

"Yeah, no. No apologizing. Cool?" She adopted a confident and brash tone. "I think we can safely say that I am captain of the good ship, uh... Rescue. I know you're used to being in charge, but it's all me now. My first declaration as Captain Empress and Supreme Ruler is no apologizing." She smirked to try and get a smile out of him. He responded with a faint smile, sweat covering his face. She patted his hand and signaled Gary to keep drilling as she started to move rubble again. It didn't take long to expose his injury. It was still bleeding because the three-inch rock that had impaled his thigh was still there. It didn't look to be an arterial injury, but he'd been seeping blood for a long time now. She swore quietly.

"I heard that," Tony said with his arm over his eyes.

"Well, I said what I said." Beside her, Gary finally broke through enough of the wall to crawl in. He wanted to inspect the wall from the inside and help move away debris for when they were able to move Tony.

"Hey kids, what's up?" Gary said, leaning over. He grimaced at the wound. "Ouch."

"I don't think it's arterial. We need to get that out and stop the bleeding."

"Yeah, good call. I'll get a tourniquet, then I'll start helping you get this off him. Will he have enough fluid by then?"

"He should, I have a second bag infusing. I gave him some versed but I don't want to drop his blood pressure."

The was a faint but powerful sound from far off and then dust fell around them. Gary leaned over Tony to block the dust from falling on his face. "We need to get the hell out of here, Maggie. Let's hurry."

"Tony this will go a lot easier if I give you something for the pain," Maggie said as Gary got the tourniquet ready and gauze to hold pressure with. 

"Please don't Maggie," was all he said, without moving his arm. She frowned.

"Are you always a stubborn idiot or do I have the rare pleasure?" Under the oxygen mask she could see him smile but he didn't move or reply. "Like you said let's hurry up," she muttered to Gary, worried.

"Mr. Stark, at least take this to bite down on. That... that will hurt, coming out." Gary handed him a rag to bite down on and the two of them quickly removed the rock and dressed the wound, cleaning it and packing it with gauze to try and stop the bleeding. They felt his entire body tense with pain and he bit off a grunt of pain, getting pale and sweaty. He put the oxygen mask back on his face, breathing hard. Maggie reached over and took his hand, letting him squeeze it until the pain somewhat subsided. She helped him take another drink and he closed his eyes, still breathing hard.

"Maggie--" Gary hesitated and looked at her reluctantly, eyeing Tony to make sure he wasn't looking then gesturing with a nod of his head that he wanted to talk to her in private. 

"One sec. Let's see if we can get some pressure off his chest. By then the third bag of fluid should be in and we can try to get that crap off his legs."

Tony appeared to have fallen asleep, exhausted from the trauma and relaxed by the sedative. Maggie moved carefully to the left of the sleeping genius and tried to see if it would be possible to clear any debris to move him toward the left. The chunks of concrete were too big to move, however. She couldn't see a way to move the beam and she couldn't see a way to move him. If they could even move him a foot or two, and then maybe slide him down, but that way was blocked as well. She swore softly, meeting Gary's eyes. He frowned. He knew. She glanced at the portable monitor she'd put on Tony. He was asleep.

"Alright, give it to me straight."

"Look Maggie, we're on our own here. The building is extremely unstable. They're saying it could collapse anytime, okay? This whole thing," he twirled his finger in the air. "Could collapse on us. And they can't send anyone down to help us."

"Even if they could," Maggie whispered. "Gary, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. _If_ we had some equipment, and if it fit down here, and if the building weren't collapsing, we _might_ be able to lift that beam a couple of inches to slide him out. Maybe. We can try moving things from over there," he gestured toward the area he supposed Tony's feet were buried. "But there's not a ton of space. I'm not sure how we can maneuver things."

"Welp. We'll just have to try. Gary." Her face filled with pain. "You don't have to stay, you know."

"Duh." He rolled his eyes. "Idiot." They looked at each other in sorrow and determination and went back to work.

"Tony? You with me?" Gary shook Tony's shoulder gently. Tony opened his eyes. "We're going to move some of this off you and I need you awake so you can tell us if you're hurting or doesn't feel right. Okay?" They started moving some of the rubble and debris off his pelvis and legs. Tony tried to see what was happening but the beam blocked him from seeing and kept him from raising up far enough to see. 

"You doing okay?"

"I can't feel anything."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything, Tony, okay? We'll have to see. Can you wiggle your toes? That's okay, give it a few minutes." After several minutes hard work, they were able to uncover most of his body so that the beam was the only thing over him. Unfortunately, it would not budge an inch and had him completely trapped.

Tony stared for a long time at where the other end of the beam was buried in the wall, and where it was wedged against the ground and didn't say anything. Maggie splinted his leg where it looked like there was a fracture and tried to clean off some of the scrapes and cuts. She looked at Gary and he pointed to an area he thought they might be able to clear to try and get him out, but none of them spoke what they all knew. It was going to be close to impossible to get him out without equipment, and no equipment would fit down there even if there were time.

They got back to work, knowing that any moment could be when the building shifted and their time could run out. They first cleared as much as they could from around him, shoving as much as they could through the hole in the wall they'd made without blocking their way out. It was going to be very difficult with the two of them to move him through the hole as it was, it would be a tight fit. But they had to make some room to move. They were sweating terribly, soaking through their clothes in enclosed space.

"Hey!" Tony called to them. "Hey, guys, can you take a break for a second?"

"Are you all right?" Gary asked, moving toward him. There wasn't enough space to stand up, but he was able to walk on his knees.

"Alright, listen, please. I've done the math, and my math is always right. I can see this isn't going to work. You tried your best, okay? Got me stabilized. But you've got to get out of here. Okay? I'm guessing the reason there aren't more people helping you get me out... because no offense, but I'm kind of a big deal... the building isn't stable. Right? So listen. I can last a while down here with the oxygen. Put some food and water where I can reach it and we'll wait. Okay? Just a few hours. If it's going to collapse, it probably will by then. Right? In the meantime, you guys can be topside figuring out a plan to get me out of here, okay? We all know you can't do me any more good down here." Maggie and Gary looked at each other. 

"He's got a point, Gary." Tony closed his eyes in pain and fear and relief. "You should go topside and tell them what's happening. Get us some help on the way." Tony opened his eyes quickly, anger and frustration crossing his face.

"This isn't a joke, Maggie!" He said harshly. "Do you want to end up like Chris? You want to die down here with a building on top of you? I sure as hell don't, and I don't want you to either!"

"I'm sure no one wants that," a voice said from the opening Gary had created. The three of them looked over quickly and saw a dirty but handsome face peering in at them. It took a moment to recognize who it was, it was so unexpected.

"Cap?" Tony asked in disbelief. "Is that you?" Steve Rogers was crawling through the small space, covered in dust and wearing civilian clothes. Gary and Maggie looked at each other in shock and after a moment moved out of the way so that the famous soldier could get closer to his teammate.

"I'm sorry, Stark," he said. "I've been trying to get here. There were some civilians that needed out and then they weren't letting anyone in the building, I had to sneak through when they were distracted. I would never have taken so long otherwise."

But Tony looked angry and afraid, ripping the oxygen off his face so he could speak clearly. "Rogers, get your ass out of here! Are you kidding me? You think we can afford to lose both of us? I thought you had a brain!" He gave Steve a furious look. "Look, Rogers. There are still civilians down here. These two. Get them out of here, and get yourself out of here, like, yesterday."

Steve raised his eyebrows as he listened to the furious diatribe, then frowned. "That's not how this works, Stark," he said firmly, setting his jaw. "I'm not coming out of here without you and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

"Steve," Tony said, clenching his eyes closed. "Don't do this to me. I'm asking you. I'm begging you."

Steve responded with a grin. "Think of it this way, Stark. If this goes sideways, ain't none of us going to live to regret it."

Tony answered with a string of profanities and Steve tsked. "In front of the lady."

"I'm not a lady, mister," Maggie replied indignantly. "I'm the Captain Empress... uh."

"Supreme Ruler," Gary supplied.

"Right. I'm in charge. Swearing in moderation should the situation warrant is okayed by myself. Now let's get going." A worried frown crossed her face. "However, I'm open to suggestions as to how to proceed. If we move the rubble at _that_ end, there's a chance the whole beam could fall. But if we move anything on this end, it's wedged so it can't be moved."

"All right." Steve crawled closer, examining the beam and debris for himself. "I'm going to try and move some of the debris of that side of the beam. Then I'll try to lift it enough for you two to pull him out _that way,_ " he said gesturing toward his feet. "We'll have to try to be quick, but it looks like you got a lot cleared away here. Ma'am, would you be willing to crawl over there first and start clearing it? There's just not enough room for me or..."

"Gary. And this is Maggie." Steve charmed them with a quick smile and they smiled in return. Both of the tired rescue workers felt a renewed sense of hope and energy, as opposed to Tony who seemed frustrated and looked worse than ever. Maggie adjusted her hard hat and pulled her work gloves on tighter and moved toward the narrow space on the other side of Tony. As she maneuvered over the frustrated genius, he caught her eye. 

He didn't say anything but she could see his fear and grief and pain. Her face was inches from his and she smiled, winking at him before she positioned herself to start handing chunks of concrete and debris to the two men. Gary put himself on the other side of the wall so he could put some of the rubble out of the way, as well as keep a path clean so they could move out.

Pretty soon there was enough of a dent that Steve could take over. With room to maneuver, he had no difficulty with the large chunks of concrete and rubble. Maggie gestured to Gary, pointing to a blanket in the supplies bag, and placed it over the fallen nurse, covering his face. Tony's jaw tightened and he pursed his lips, an unspoken thank you. Maggie moved away, stretching her back, which was sore from the cramped conditions and tight works space.

Steve had to crawl over Tony and the two of them exchanged a glance without speaking. Tony was reproachful and worried and Steve responded with a determined and "deal with it" look.

The three of them worked tirelessly, as the occasional shifting of the building showered them with dust and loosened wreckage. None of them spoke. Tony concentrated on not panicking, doing his best to move his legs and force some feeling back into them. It seemed to be working, but he wasn't sure if the accompanying pain was worth it or not. His entire body hurt like he hadn't felt in years, not since Afghanistan maybe.

He realized suddenly that the others had stopped working. They were not looking at him but at each other, determined. Tony knew that look-- do or die, but literally. He hated them and loved them in the same instant; resented and wanted to protect them. He'd had that look on his own face a time or two. He knew what it meant. Nothing he could say would make any kind of difference now. It was their risk to take, their lives on the line, and almost he didn't matter now. 

Finally, they looked over at him and all he could do was give them a sad, grateful smile. He hoped that if they were about to kill themselves that it would at least kill him too, that's all he asked. 

Steve nodded to Tony. "This probably won't feel so good."

"For you or me?"

"You. I'll be fine."

He rolled his eyes, looking to Maggie. "Now who's the tough guy? Not too late to walk away, Maggie, Gary. I know you won't, but it's not too late."

"Whatever happens now, we're in it together sir." Gary put his hand on Maggie's shoulder and she smiled at him.

Steve wedged himself under the beam so it was lying across his shoulders and started to lift.

It was impossible. Physically, there was no way he could lift it. Half a collapsed wall, concrete and bricks and twisted rebar, all weighing it down, wedging it tight. Grunting with the effort, every muscle in Steve's body began to strain. Tony watched it, like a miracle, it was the serum and it was Steve and it was a miracle because he saw the beam start to move. Something unmoveable and beyond human strength. Tony had read in his dad's notes about post-serum Steve, how the more they challenged his body the stronger it got but he hadn't understood, hadn't realized, couldn't comprehend what he was watching. An act of pure will and strength, and he felt the terrific weight across his chest slowly, almost imperceptibly, lighten.

Pain ripped through his body like lightning, like he was being burned and electrocuted, as Maggie and Gary pulled him out from under the beam. The button on his shirt caught against the beam and then tore free and black swam in front of his eyes from the pain and the trauma and the sudden movement. "Stay with me," Maggie demanded and the room was full of dust and there was the sound of shifting, of falling things and he was afraid--

Strong, sure hands pulled him to safety and they strapped him to the plastic gurney. He felt Maggie's hands: sure and precise and still gentle. Gary's hands were strong and quick, moving with efficiency. Then Steve, trying to be gentle but powerful and strong, lifting his body as if he were no more than a child, an infant, helping to move him so he was more securely in place. They were getting out then, a seemingly insurmountable task now because it was such a tight fit and there was no room to move and they were on their _knees_ for heaven's sake--

"Crrrrrap," Maggie intoned as they rushed toward the exit. In their hurry she hadn't had time to check him over but as they were carrying him she noticed a bleeding gash on his back that was pooling blood now that they had scraped the wound dragging him out. "Go, just go," she said urgently because it was still rumbling at times and dust and darkness fell.

...

"Hey Captain Empress," Tony said faintly as more hands touched him now, moving him onto the ambulance gurney, people shouting, the Avengers team getting underfoot left and right. Maggie brushed aside a hand that was putting a butterfly bandage on a bleeding gash on the side of her forehead. 

"Yes, loyal subject?" She asked crisply before grinning and taking the billionaire's hand.

"Good work. And thank you." He looked over at Gary. "Thanks, Gary. Really."

"No problem, Mr. Stark. Now you know how we all feel toward you, sir." Tony tried to speak but the words caught in his throat and he cleared it. He knew a lot of people called him a hero, and he liked to play up the title but most of the time, he didn't feel like a hero. He was just trying to make amends and help people. He supposed that most heroes didn't always think of themselves that way, including these fine people.

"Give that redhead over there your names and numbers, will you? I want to send a Christmas card."

Steve was having some kind of animated conversation with the Search and Rescue boss, but he looked over at Tony, a small smirk when he saw him watching. Steve gave his best charming but uncompromising smile/chin lift and the frustrated administrator threw up his hands, walking away.

Steve jogged over to Tony. "How you ever survived in a military environment when you clearly hate following orders and rules, I will never know," Tony said dryly.

"I follow rules! Just not dumb ones."

"Like not running into collapsing buildings when you have no training or ability to keep yourself, let alone the others in there, safe?"

"No! I only had to do _that_ because he said no equipment or other trained personnel! You make it sound worse than it was."

"There was good reason, Cap." Tony rubbed his forehead, trying not to let the weight of possibilities crush him. He _really_ needed to work on getting a suit that could come to him in pieces. A full suit probably wouldn't have helped much in this case, but even just the gauntlets would have saved his life. Pieces of a suit. Of course, wearing the bracelets all the time would be annoying, perhaps something implantable--

"I had good reason, too, Stark," Steve replied quietly, his blue eyes boring into Tony. Tony squirmed, glaring at his teammate. 

Then his face relaxed into something like gratitude. "Still I appreciate it. Those two weren't going to leave me, so you probably saved their lives too."

Steve scoffed. "You're thanking me for saving their lives but not yours?" Tony's face darkened again.

"I'm not going to thank you for risking the entire team for me, no!" Tony said irritably. "You ought to know better than anyone there are bigger things at stake than one life!" 

"Would you have come for me? Or any one of the Avengers, Tony?" Steve asked, sincerely, watching him intently. He already knew the answer. And Tony already knew that Captain America would make the sacrifice call if he had to. If he had no other choice. He'd told Natasha to close the portal, after all, and the both of them knew Tony would never have left a teammate alone, in space, after saving the world. But it had been Tony, no one else, and he wouldn't have approved of Steve or anyone keeping the portal open, not after what he saw. It haunted him. Day and night. Even asleep he couldn't escape it. It seemed like his fear of what he'd seen was only growing instead of diminishing like it should. 

"That's different, you idiot," Tony said angrily. "I'm an engineer, I have tools. I might not have training but I could figure it out--"

"Seems like I did just fine on the figuring it out myself, smart guy," Steve said, trying to keep his temper in check. Tony was such an egotistical bastard and at the same time wouldn't allow that his own life was worth the risk to save. He didn't understand him at all.

Tony blew out a breath through his teeth, a soft hissing sound of exasperation and capitulation. "Fine then," he said loudly. " _Thank you._ Don't ever do it again."

Steve smiled. "You're welcome. And Stark? I do what I want. You know that by now." Tony made a face just as the EMS driver rolled him into the ambulance. Pepper disengaged from Maggie and Gary after hugging them both and squeezed Steve's shoulder as she walked by, giving him a grateful smile as she entered the ambulance. 

Steve turned and walked back to Gary and Maggie. He felt troubled, wondering if Tony Stark were in more trouble than he was letting on. He'd spent a lot of time around men and women who served in the military. Sometimes Tony almost sounded like them, shell-shocked, anxious. He brushed the thought aside. As Tony had reminded him recently, they weren't soldiers. If he was having difficulties, there was probably no end to help he could buy with the money he made. It was probably nothing.


End file.
